The Limpopo River Basin (LRB) which has a total population of 18 million with 15 million in South Africa, 1.2 in Botswana, 1.1 million people in Mozambique, 0.8 million in Zimbabwe is prone to natural disasters as a result of climate change. Therefore, on the 24th of November, 2015, Resilience in the Limpopo Basin Program (RESILIM) in partnership with Global Water Partnership Southern Africa (GWP SA) undertook an in-country consultation workshop on the development of the Limpopo River Basin Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) Action Plan.
Many Studies to be carried early 2016 Terms of References (ToRs) were developed and launched in all the three countries for biding. Some offers have already been received and each CWP as well as the regional coordination are following closely.
The project has also requested from each country to submit a proposal of pilot project to be carried in the framework of the Mekrou. Proposals have been received from Burkina, Niger and Benin is still to submit.
In order to support the Municipal Association of Users of natural resources of the Niger Basin of Péhunco (ACU-Péhunco) to implement a micro-project for the mobilization and the integrated management of resources of the Beket reservoir, the community of Beket in the town of Péhunco received a 10-day training session in September 2015 on the construction and use of economic Wanrou stoves. Indeed, this micro-project is in line with the "Shared Vision for the preservation of the Niger Basin ecosystem for its sustainable development" and the "promotion of IWRM in the national portion of Niger Basin" of the WASH-Benin Program.
After the Municipal / Communal and Local elections which took place in Benin leading to the renewal of decision-making bodies at municipal level, the CWP Benin has initiated a training session on the advocacy techniques for local water stakeholders. The participants included members of the National Association of Users of the national portion of the Niger Basin (UNA-Benin, the Consultation Framework of non-state actors in the water sector and sanitation (Canea), the Local Water Partnerships (PLE) of Mono and Couffo, the Consumers Associations of Drinking Water (CAPE) and the social intermediation NGOs
The Chair of GWP WAf, Pr. Abel AFOUDA had a working visit at the Secretariat from October 19 to 24, 2015. During his stay on Ouagadougou, the Chair met with the staff to have an update on the implementation of various activities and give his orientations for finalizing pending issues.
He was presented the templates for the monitoring and drafting of the work plans, the draft progress reports of the CORE and the three projects bein implemented (WACDEP, IDMP and Mekrou), the guidelines for elaborating the budgets lines for 2016. On all these Prof. AFOUDA gave some orientations. The decision was also taken to convene the virtual meeting of the Steering Committee to appreciate the various documents and give orientations to the Secretariat. This meeting will be done early in November 2015.
The young parliamentarians acting through the National Youth Parliament for Water and Sanitation (PNJEA) of Benin, have organized on Thursday, October 29, 2015, in Cotonou an official ceremony to present the White Booklet to the Beninese authorities. The PNJEA also seized the opportunity to distinguish its godfathers and godmothers including the Minister of Water.
From November 4 to 5, 2015, GWP China Secretariat, in cooperation with GWP China Hebei and Chinese Academy of Press and Publication, with the support of Zhang River Administration that governs all issues related to Zhang River running cross Hebei Province and Henan Province, visited She County of Hebei Province and Linzhou County of Henan Province to get to know how they deal with the challenges of water shortage they faced due to climate change, including water use conflict, integrated use of different water resources and harmonious development between water resources and local eco-society.
From 22- 23 October 2015, the Global Water Partnership Eastern Africa (GWPEA) conducted a regional workshop themed “ Role of the media in promoting water security, climate resilience and drought risk management”. The workshop was attended by 15 media practitioners from Uganda, Kenya, Rwanda, Burundi, Sudan, Ethiopia and Djibouti.
GWP and key partners organised a training opportunity on Integrated Urban Water Management (IUWM) in Mongolia at the end of September. A new toolkit with training modules for IUWM were used for the first time, to test their functionality in a real environment.
From 8-9 October 2015, GWP Eastern Africa held its 20th Regional Steering Committee Meeting in Bugesera, Rwanda.